The Cobar Roosters failed to reign in the Coolah Roos in their Castlereagh Rugby League Round 4 game at home on Saturday with the visitors grabbing the win and taking home the Boronia Cup.
The Roos made sure the cup was strapped in tight in the front seat of the bus on their way home after they accounted for the Roosters
22-16 at Tom Knight Memorial Oval.
Both sides went into the match unbeaten this season and it was expected to be a big game.
From the outset both teams were fully committed in defence and, for the first 13 minutes, all of the action took place in the middle of the field as neither side was prepared to give an inch in defence.
With Coolah having a big mobile forward pack, Roosters co-coach Thomas Plater said they were prepared for the Roos to come out strong.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t quite match their energy to start with,” Plater said.
“Towards the back end of both halves we started to get some momentum but our attack lacked the structure and cohesion to be effective. Our errors let them stay in control of the game and that’s something that has been plaguing us all year,” Plater said.
The Roos were first to penetrate the Roosters’ try line 13 minutes into the game but the ball was judged to have been held up.
Their relentless attack was rewarded soon after with a try in the right corner and the successful side-line conversion gave them a 6-0 lead.
The Roosters appeared rattled and mistakes started to creep into their game.
Coolah then scored another converted try to take a 12-0 lead midway through the first half.
Roosters co-coach Loma Atuau brought the Cobar side back into the game eight minutes before half time after momentum and determination carried him over the line to score.
The Roos went into the half time break with a 12-4 lead.
And although Cobar won the second half,
12-10, with tries to Jack Brown and Tim Hillam (both converted by Ben Griffiths), the Roos had already done enough to claim the win.
Cobar’s Players’ Player honour was shared by Hillam and Zane Taylor with Hillam also collecting Best & Fairest three points, two points was earned by Jack Brown and Kai Taylor picked up one point.
The Roosters head to Coonabarabran on Saturday and then will have a three week break for two competition byes and a public holiday.
Plater hopes the break will give a few players time to get over some niggling injuries.
